Jinxed Journeys
by trcnsformers
Summary: Statistics say about 3% of all births result in twins. 0% have resulted in techno-organic babies - until now. An original story based in the Transformers Animated universe.
1. Prologue: Flask's Protoforms

The Age of Exploration.

That's what some called it.

The Scientific Boom.

The New Era.

The Knowledge Revolution.

No matter what one decided to call the time period, it was a definite age of scientific breakthroughs.

But today, the Autobot Elite Guard was desperately trying to use the aforementioned breakthroughs to create extremely powerful protoforms.

The Great War for Cybertron had ended some time ago. Unfortunately, Decepticons still lingered, and attacks to Autobot space bridges were becoming far too common.

Ultra Magnus and his second in command, Sentinel Prime, knew something needed to be done, but what?

A local scientist had an idea - a brilliant one, indeed - but he knew the Elite Guard would never approve:

 _Processor Manipulation._

Much to his delight, Flask had already found a pair of testing subjects.

Twin protoforms had recently been orphaned after the loss of a secret Decepticon laboratory. Unsure of what purpose the Decepticons had with a rare set of split spark protoforms, they were taken into custody by the Elite Guard to be examined by their top scientists.

Flask though, had volunteered to raise and examine the protoforms growth, and being a trusted scientist within the Autobot community, was granted his wish.

PROTOFORM #J0RN3Y

The young femme's spark shone blindingly, her shamrock-colored optics twinkling as well. Looking over, she felt her twin's spark doing the same.

PROTOFORM #J11NX3

Feeling his shared spark glow lambently, opposite to his sibling's, his pupils beamed compared to hers.

The twins looked up to the being who had brought them to life.

"Hello, young ones! I am Flask, and I will be raising you two as if you were my own. Your original creators have been apprehended for their crimes against Cybertronian society. I will take good care of you, er-" He looked on their stasis pods for a designation or a serial number.

"No names! Sad. For now, you," pointing to the femme, "will be J-0."

"And you," moving his hand towards the mech, "will be J-1."

The twins nodded to their adoptive creator. This would be their new life, and no matter what confusing thoughts rolled through their processors, they would have to get used to it.


	2. Datapad Entry: J-0

**Opening Datapad:**

 _Property of: Protoform #J0RN3Y_

 _Megacycle 30._

J-1 and I have completed our lessons on the basic skills of survival and comprehension. Our new creator unit, Flask, says it is time for us to go through studying, in preparation for testing.

Testing over what, he has not said.

J-1 is doing physical training to develop their fighting abilities. Creator says they are the stronger one in our duo.

This bothers me none, as I would much rather be where Creator has placed me: the home library.

I am learning the history of Cybertron, volume by volume. There are many of these encyclopedic novels to go through, but Creator says I will complete them very quickly - explaining that I have an excellent memory and a love for reading - which I find to be impeccably accurate.

I've learned many things about the planet so far; the Great Wars are some of my favorites to read upon. Though they may have been mildly devastating to our planet, I find it very fascinating to see how a society can go through so much turmoil, yet remain stable enough to hold and create new life.

Creator says J-1 and I were recovered from a Decepticon laboratory. I have deemed this to be concerning - as I have extensively researched the Decepticon cause, attempting to analyze it from a neutral viewpoint.

Sadly, seeing much of the damage they inflicted on our home world, I cannot seem to sympathize with them.

Though the question still lingers on my processor: "Why were we Decepticon property?"

Creator has no clear idea, and even I cannot come up with a satisfying conclusion.

Back to the books it is.

 **Closing Datapad Entry:**

 _J-0_

 _Megacycle 30._


	3. Datapad Entry: J-1

**Opening Datapad:**

 _Property of: Protoform #J11NX3_

 _Megacycle 31._

J-0 has showed me how to use one of these so-called "datapads", so I figured I would record my thoughts into them. They are much more knowledgeable than I am on these sort of things.

They said today is Megacycle 31, so that is what I've placed at the top of this entry.

Creator Flask has been teaching me to spar, telling me that I will one day achieve Cyber-Ninja status.

I wasn't sure what a Cyber-Ninja was, so I went to ask J-0 about it. They seem to be very knowledgeable, spending so much time in the library.

Glad I'm not in them libraries; I couldn't handle the stillness.

They read to me a book about famous Cyber-Ninjas. I have now taken a major interest in these great Cybertronians, and J-0 promises me they will continue reading up on them for me. They tell me they'd like to be a...scholar? Is that correct?

Whatever.

I am firm with my decision to one day be a Cyber-Ninja.

After we finish these training exercises, Master says we will be participating in testing.

Over what, he has not told us.

Tests are J-0's thing, not mine!

Oh, scrap, I need to get going. Back to sparring.

J-1 out.

 **Closing Datapad Entry.**

 _J-1._

 _Megacycle 31._


	4. Chapter 1: Hypnopaedia

_*Hypnopaedia is a study that deals with sleep learning or sleep programming._

When you hear the word test, what do you think of?

Slaving over a piece of paper, filling in answer documents as a teacher keeps an eagle eye?

Taking an online quiz to find out what your "spirit animal" is?

Neither of those came remotely close to what the protoform twins would be subjected to in the upcoming solar cycles.

Genetic testing is already a touchy subject in the scientific community. Flask typically wasn't a bot to break the law - besides, he was one of the more trusted scientists in the second-caste Autobot division.

There was something so satisfying about being a witness to an extraordinaire case like this, though.

Protoform split-spark twins? Already a rare natural occurrence, how could the Decepticons ever get their servos on such a prize?

Discovering how to split sparks? Finding a new hot-spot of sparks and getting lucky? Praying to their lord and saviour?!

Nobody would know. Unless any of the recently hired scavengers could find some sort of evidence in the destroyed Decepticon laboratory, or they could get information out of the hard-headed Decepticons in their prison cells - both highly unlikely circumstances - then their origin story would remain under speculation.

Flask had already managed to convince the head of the Autobot Science Division to let him care for the split-sparks. A bit of gentle prodding wouldn't hurt, surely?

Why not try to get his way up the job ladder, and impress everyone on Cybertron with his forward ideas and accomplishments?

The time would be soon, as a few techniques stay written in Flask's logs to attempt.

 **Technique 1: Hypnopaedia.**

J-0 quite enjoyed reading.

Perhaps a trait that is seldom seen in the age of technology, J-0 had already spent a great portion of her short life reading old data-pad's in the master's library.

How could she not? The shelves were filled to the brim with history and knowledge that the young protoform wished she could take in quicker!

From the highly theorized predictions of ancient Cybertronian history, to useless facts about famous (or infamous) Cybertronians, J-0 was drowning in knowledge!

In fact, perhaps J-0 was not retaining information fast enough.

Besides, how could a mere protoform read things so quickly?

Perhaps Flask was underestimating the femme's ability. Nevertheless, he still felt it necessary to place her in memory therapy. With such an advanced processor like hers, she could grow up to be a volatile weapon for the Autobot team.

One day, the violet-colored protoform would not only make themselves a star, but Flask as well.

To ensure this dream became a reality, Flask made J-0 read only assigned chapters per solar cycle. No more, no less.

But the newly-christened Autobot wanted more! She begged master to assign more chapters, harder chapters, a greater challenge!

"You will get your wish soon, little prodigy. Even the greatest scholars had patience as their top priority." He would repeat incessantly.

Must be the Decepticon side coming out of her, causing restlessness. The evil-doers were known to be...very impatient at times.

Just another trait Flask would have to embed in her, is all.

J-0 isn't the only one going through impatience with their study, though. Though J-1's studies were vastly different compared to his twin, no less effort was being ensued.

J-1 _loved_ to fight.

Not verbally, really. Words were J-0's strength.

But the cobalt protoform was going through dummies and holoforms faster than Flask could create new ones. He was a speedy learner, after all, just like his sibling.

The older scientist would consistently write updates on J-1:

\- J-1 has defeated all his stage 1 opponents.

\- Defeat was dealt by a stage 3 hologram. Not surprising.

 _\- Train him harder._

\- Very rarely does project J-1 show physical exhaustion.

\- Natural ability? A next gen spark? Experimentation?

 _\- Must know more._

How was this possible, a young protoform defeating opponents that normal protoforms would get trampled by?

Flask continued to write theories as to why these twins were such advanced learners. Had the Decepticons had the same mindset as himself? If so, then why were they offline until just recently?

At this rate, he would need a different method to get the protoform's learning skills on a stable schedule to keep track of what they needed to learn.

Hypnopaedia would seem to be the best option, for a starter.

What is hypnopaedia anyway?

How will it affect the protoforms?

Will it be damaging?

No - not in the slightest.

As the twins were put into stasis at the end of a cycle, Flask would play a series of recordings.

 _"...the pits of Kaon were regarded as the most dangerous place on Cybertron..."_

Word for word, J-0's chapters were played over a recording, on repeat.

 _"...jab at the midsection. When they least expect it, move up and round-kick them in their..."_

J-1's sparring lessons were recited in a sight-free audio track.

The processor, _especially_ of a protoform, is still very powerful, even under stasis. Why not take advantage of this strength that young ones had?

Hypnopaedia uses the advantages of a dormant, yet high-functioning mind to implant long-term memories by repeating what they needed to memorize.

This is why it had become obviously simple for J-0 to keep track of her facts about the timeline for Cybertronian history, and why Jinx had consistently perfected his basic moves before leveling up.

While the effects are not damaging by any means, it becomes a slow process.

Flask needed a different process to get the information in stable, while moving a bit faster for his likes;

Perceptor could be visiting everyday now to check on his progress and status of the protoforms.

Testing like this could be seen as unethical and result in his arrest.

 _It is time to move onto Technique Two:_

 **Punishment and Reward.**


End file.
